Professor Qasim Aziz, Professor of Neurogastroenterology

"I believe in practising evidence-based medicine. I also believe in listening to my patients carefully. They tell a story within which lie the clues to their illness. I also believe in treating the patient as a whole rather than just the symptoms."

Medical Qualifications

Professor Qasim Aziz qualified in 1984 in Lahore, Pakistan, with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree. He became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians of Glasgow in 1990 and completed a PhD from the University of Manchester in 1996. He was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians in 2002.

Medical Experience

Prof Aziz was awarded the Medical Research Council Clinician Scientist Fellowship and the University of Manchester Senior Lecturership in 1998. At the same time, he set up his clinical practice as a Consultant in Neurogastroenterology at Hope Hospital, Salford, Manchester. He was promoted to Professor of Gastroenterology in 2002 and in 2006 became the Professor of Neurogastroenterology at Bart's and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. He is the Director and Professor of Neurogastroenterology at the Wingate Institute of Neurogastroenterology, London and runs a tertiary clinical service with national and international referrals. Prof Aziz is also Honorary Consultant Neurogastroenterologist at Bart's Health and treats privately as a Consultant Neurogastroenterologist at The Princess Grace Hospital, London.

Prof Aziz has a research interest in the mechanisms and treatment of abdominal pain and has used a variety of brain imaging techniques to understand how the brain processes pain in health and disease. He also has a research interest in the gut symptoms of Joint Hypermobility Syndrome (Ehler-Danlos Syndrome–Hypermobility Type) and acid-induced oesophageal hypersensitivity in Gastro-oesophageal Reflux Disease (GORD).

His clinical interests range through the whole spectrum of neurogastroenterology including functional gastrointestinal disorders such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, dyspepsia, unexplained chest pain and constipation; gut symptoms in neurological diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS), stroke, Parkinson's and autonomic neuropathies; gut symptoms in rheumatological diseases such as lupus, Ehler-Danlos Syndrome and systemic sclerosis; and gut symptoms in metabolic diseases such as diabetes and obesity (including post-obesity surgery).